


All That You Are

by Insomiak



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: E✭R✭E✭M✭I✭N, M/M, SCREEEEEEEEEEE, University AU, e r e m i n, i do not do tags correctly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-30
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-02-15 08:44:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2222760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insomiak/pseuds/Insomiak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikasa had been right, he wasn't happy.  Besides, even if attending classes at Rose University seemed pointless, it had to be better than doing nothing with himself… and maybe he really could find something he liked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [Minmin-chan](http://momotaarou.tumblr.com/) for motivating and editing! (^~^)*

As he walks inside the coffee shop, the warm air that flowers over him smells like baking bread, coffee, and hot sugar.It's a jarring change from the cool weather outside; the dry, cold skin over his knuckles cracks as he opens a hand to wave at Jean when their eyes find each other.They don't smile nicely or say 'hello'- they absolutely do not have that kind of friendship.

“Okay, go,” Eren says as he sits down across from him.He keeps his expression bored. 

“What the fuck, Jaeger?” 

“I’m here — show me who it is.” 

The lines around Jean's eyes bunch up, like they always do when he wants to throttle Eren.“Would you keep it down?”

One side of Eren's lips drives up into a crooked smirk.“Why?You shouldn't be ashamed of your _feelings_.”  

“Shut up — you — ”Jean looks widely around the cafe, as if someone actually might be listening to his bullshit.   

“So?”

Eren leans back in his chair and looks across the wooden room at the serving counter.One of the workers at Sunny Bean has the unfortunate displeasureof being the target of one Jean Kirstein's Affection - or, as Eren likes to call it, Jean's Train Wreck of a Libido has once again fallen haphazardly and randomly for another pretty face. _Or_ , on worse days: Jean's Junk has Found a New Hunk.  He is deeply concerned about the object of Jean's constant and unsatable need to be ‘in love,’ because he's kind of an entitled asshole about it.But generally speaking, Eren pities anyone on the receiving end of any of Jean's emotions, himself thoroughly included, because Jean is kind of an asshole about _everything_.

He folds in on himself and scowls, as if he can hear what Eren's thinking.“The blond,” he says, looking outside through the window next to them.

“There are two.”

“The _boy_.”  

Eren locks onto the blond boy behind the counter.He looks about his age, light hair neatly falling down his cheeks and blue eyes wide and happy.He's wearing a yellow apron, moving sweets around a display case, and talking to the blonde girl beside him.There's flour in his hair and on his nose.  

“Do you even know his name?”

“… No.”

“Okay.”Eren pushes his chair back away from the table.

“Hey!Where the hell are you going!”

Eren places a hand on Jean's shoulder, looking solemn.“Don't get your fucking _hooves_ in a knot about it, long-face.”

Jean snaps something back at him, but he can't make out what.Eren has entirely zero intent on doing Jean any favours, like finding out this guy's name or number or screening him for a “friend.”He just wants a coffee, but screwing with Jean is third on his list of Favourite Recreational Activities (first is listening to The Titans and the second is jogging with Mikasa and trying to out run her, for once).

Eren has his first class of his first semester this morning.He has to go to _university_.  

Coffee is necessary when facing this fact.  

Improbably, the Object of Jean's Overactive Hormones meets Eren at the counter, big pleasant smile on his face and flour still coating his perky nose.“Hello, welcome to Sunny Bean, what can I get for you?”His voice is as bright and intelligent as his eyes look - somehow, in the void at the back of Eren's mind, he already knew it would be.

“Medium coffee with cream.” 

“Sure,” he says with another smile.

He makes Eren's coffee, Eren pays him, and then blue eyes grow wide, sudden and transfixed somewhere across the room.

"Crap crap crap — "Blondie whips around wildly to face a tall woman with dark hair.“Ymir, I've got class.Can you — ?”

“No issue, I'll punch you out.Go.”

Eren looks at the clock above the sign reading ‘S P E C I A L S.’It says 8:41 am, giving him about nine minutes to get to the university from here.  

“Fuck.”He blinks absently at it.It's been two years since he'd had to worry about being late for school.“Me too.”

The blond looks at him, clearly with nothing to say — but offers him an understanding smile before racing into the back room behind the serving counter.  

When Eren glances at the table, Jean is gone like the horse's ass he is.Shrugging and not really caring — Jean pops in and out of his life like a common cold — Eren pushes through the single panel door, rushing out as the bell chimes over his head.

 

* * *

 

Eren's first class of his first semester that starts at 8:50 am is Biomechanics.Currently, he is throwing himself on his bike and learning very quickly how to ride it with one hand, the other occupied with his warm coffee as he glides down the street.It's Fall, so the wind against his face and arms is cool.  

Mikasa will probably skin him alive if he's late — if she's feeling merciful — so Eren keeps peddling hard, surprised and pleased at the fact that he can stay balanced on his bike like this.He doesn't have a major in mind, a career path or any idea what to do with his life whatsoever.Mikasa, his current roommate of a two bedroom apartment, had on one of the many nights Eren stayed up until four in the morning wallowing in self-loathing, too much free time, and the desire to begin drinking heavily, strongly encouraged him (threatened to take away his music collection indefinitely) to take a few classes at the local university to help him figure himself out, if nothing else.  

He'd protested — _What about the money? I'm no good at school, I barely passed high school._ The only thing he did well at was sports.  He'd joined literally _every_ sports team MHS had had: swimming, track, football, lacrosse, archery, kendo, basketball, the girls' volleyball team (there had been no boys' team), soccer, canoeing, kayaking, rafting, rowing, surfing, snowboarding, rugby (girls' team again, Annie had requested (demanded) him since they always ended up playing against the guys' teams from other schools), aikido, judo, kick boxing, field hockey, street hockey — people just kept asking him and it was the only thing he was really good at.He’d been awful at academics, so the thought of university wasn’t an appealing one. _I wont like it, Jean will be there, I'll fail anyway, I'm fine really, Mikasa, don't worry about it!_

But she'd levelled her dark eyes on him, grave and refusing to hear any of his excuses.

_You're not happy, Eren.Do something with yourself._

_But the money… We're broke._

To which she promptly handed him a form for student loans. _One semester is fine_ , Mikasa had said, a warm hand on his shoulder, _Even if you fail, it doesn't matter.You might find something you like._

He looked unsure. 

Mikasa removed the hand from his shoulder and set in on her hip, sighing. _They have sports teams at RU, you know._

That was all it took.The idea of using his body for something physically exerting, of running down a green field or swimming through clear cool water or feeling the wind glide over him was enough.All he'd been doing was lazing around the apartment and working at his part time job for two years.Mikasa (like usual) had been right, he wasn't happy, and even if attending classes at Rose University seemed pointless, it had to be better than doing nothing with himself… and maybe he really could find something he liked.

He'd signed up for four courses, more or less at random: Biomechanics, Human Sexuality, Sports Psychology, and Pre-Calculus.  

Eren parks his bike at RU at 8:46 am, coffee completely unspilt and breathing heavy; he's really gotten out of shape after two years of only biking to and from the floral shop.RU is about a thirty minute bike ride from his apartment (usually fifteen from the coffee shop but he'd pushed it to be on time), while Kritsa's store is maybe three minutes, so he's not used to it.He locks his wheels and the chain and swings his backpack over his shoulder, nervous and heads for an entrance on the side of a building, completely at random.  

And this is when he realizes that he has no idea where anything actually _is_.Mikasa had told him orientation was important, but of course he hadn't listened. She should know him well enough to know that he wouldn't listen.Fuck, how is he going to get to class now?

Just as he's turning around to look helplessly down the other end of the long empty white hallway, something slams hard into his back.  

Eren stumbles forwards, perfectly unspilt still-hot coffee tumbling out of his fingers and crashing down from his neck onto his stomach and thighs, covering every inch of him.“Ow! _Fuck_!”It burns, stinging his skin as it seeps through his jeans.Faintly, he can hear books slamming into the ground with repetitive dull thuds.

“Shit!”A female voice says, sounding more excited and entertained than anything, “Holy hell Armin!”

Eren lifts himself up right and turns to come face-to-face with none other than the Current Recipient of Jean's Gross Love Vibes, the blond from the coffee shop.He's looking at Eren with blue eyes full of horror, jaw open slack and hands held up as if he could do something about the coffee that is already all over Eren's shirt and pants.Three textbooks are lying at his feet, all coffee-free.

“I’m so sorry!”

Shucking liquid from his hands, Eren looks down at himself, frowning.  

“Are you okay?”

The girl next to the blond starts laughing, hard, as she looks Eren up and down.“You - You got it in his _hair_!He looks like a wet cat!!”

"Sasha, stop!"The blond looks back at Eren, eyes bigger than the moon.“I’m really really really _really_ sorry,” he says, “I’m late for class, and I wasn't watching where I was — ”His pupils widen suddenly, arms falling to his sides.“You're from before.”

Eren wonders if he has some sort of amazing memory that lets him recall every single face he's ever seen, or if he'd left some sort of impression.“Yeah.Thanks for spilling the coffee you made for me all _over_ me.Appreciate it.”

The girl laughs again, this time snorting and holding her stomach. It wasn't a funny situation.Though, to be honest, Eren isn't all that mad about it.He's nowhere near as angry as he would normally be.  

Pretty blue eyes look at him again, surrounded by nearly shoulder-length blond hair and that perky nose.He looks panicked, embarrassed, and way too upset.“I’m really sorry, I can give you money for the clothes and free coffee for the rest of your life,” he says, voice lacking the bright warmth it had earlier that morning.He gets down on his knees and picks his books up, avoiding Eren's eyes as he talks. “I wont serve it to you, promise, and you never have to talk to me again or anything — ” He looks at him finally, and his face falls further, “Crap you're _soaked_.I'm such an idiot.”

A drop of coffee falls from Eren's brown fringe and onto his nose.

The girl roars with laughter.

“Relax.”Eren says, wiping coffee from his cheek.“It was just an accident.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Really, don't worry about it.But…”Trying his best to not be an awkward fucking idiot and failing, he scratches the back of his head and continues, “Actually, I'm lost.”

Armin looks at him with sudden and serious purpose, clearly wanting to help after what he'd done.“I know this place like the back of my hand.Where are you going?”

“Lecture hall four.”

The girl lights up like a firework in a black sky.“We're on our way there now!We can show you, no problem.”She takes his hand and shakes it enthusiastically, a broad grin on her face.“I’m Sasha, and that's Armin.Though if you want to stay as far away from him as possible, I wouldn't blame you.”

   Armin slumps.  “Me neither.  I really am sorry.”

“It's fine,” Eren says, suddenly finding himself apparently making friends.“I’ll just clean up in the bathroom, and then - er, if it's okay?”

Sasha grins at him and drops her bags on the floor, ready to wait.“We're late now anyway.” 

“I’m in your debt, so.”Armin smiles.“We'll be here.” 

 _Who the hell says shit like that?_ Eren thinks as he washes coffee out of his hair and off of his neck, looking at himself in the mirror of the bathroom.‘I’m in your debt.’Was he being serious with a line like that?It's archaic.Well, with that big sweater and all those books he'd been carrying, maybe he's some kind of bookworm who reads really old stuff for fun. 

When they walk into the lecture hall a few minutes later, the professor isn’t there.Sasha fist-pumps into the air as she takes a seat beside Armin, and Eren sits down next to her, laughing at her antics.There are about fifty or so other students siting around the theatred seats.

Sasha nudges him on the shoulder.“So… what's your _name_ , dork?”

“Oh,” he articulates, turning to face her.“Eren.Nice to meet you.”

Armin looks down at his stained shirt, lips drawn into a small pout.“I’m still really sorry.”

“Seriously, don't worry about it.”Eren shrugs at him, smiling.“Alright?”

“…Alright.”He leans back in his seat and nods.Then, looking at Eren seriously, he says, "I mean it about the free coffee, though.I'll add your name to the system, so you can get one even if I'm not there."

"No," Eren replies, one corner of his lips turning up, "I don't think that's a good idea.It would be like giving you ammunition."

The blond's mouth falls open in shock.Eren has a three second freak-out that maybe they don't know each other well enough for him to be cracking snide jokes like that - they'd just met four minutes ago - shit did he fuck up _already_? But then Armin is leaning across Sasha's desk, hands gripping the edges of his own chair.

He looks at Eren with mock-sternness and says, "I'm not going to give you _anything_ for free with an attitude like that."

All the tension fades from Eren in bounds, and the words of his reply tumble out of his mouth without consent, like he's singing a song he's known his whole life.

"Oh yeah?"He smirks, leaning over Sasha's desk as well."Nothing at all?"

Pink lips part to retort something (and if those raised eyebrows are anything to go by, it was going to be very sarcastic and a perfect jab to Eren's ego), but the professor walks in the lecture hall and instructs the class to be silent.Armin leans away from him, back into his own seat, hurrying to dig out his note book and a pen. 

Sasha snorts softly under her breath and pushes Eren's face off her her table when he doesn't move right away."This prof's a hardass," she whispers, "He — ”

Said hardass speaks with his back to the class: "If any of you want to _socialize_ , the door is there and you can feel free to go make nice with the other side of it.We're here to learn the _absolutely_ _riveting_ idiosyncrasies and inner workings of biological systems. Believe it or not being here on a Monday morning with you snot-nosed brats is not my idea of fun, let alone hearing your gross little voices saying things so just shut up and take notes or get out." 

He slams a button on the wall that starts the projector.

Eren thinks it's all a lot like high school.

 

* * *

 

After about thirty minutes into the lecture, it starts to feel _exactly_ like high school.Everyone else is nodding like they know what's going on while _he_ feels like they're all hiking up a mountain with ease while he's stuck at the start.Biomechanics hadn't sounded like a hard course.He figured it would be about machines, like car motors or something.But instead the prof is going on about molecular structure and bio-zones and words Eren's never even heard before.He feels like he's drowning in an ocean of his own ignorance.  

He looks over at Sasha.She's taking notes a lightning speed.Beside her, Armin is calmly writing down a few things in an elegant cursive script that only reinforces Eren's prior notion that he's a book-freak; but mostly he's got his eyes trained on the professor, listening intently.He actually looks really interested in whatever's going on.  

Eren puts his chin in his palm and feels helpless.

When the vertically challenged professor (Eren’s pretty sure he’s taller than the man) exits the lecture hall, Sasha turns to him with a long, exaggerated sigh.“Thank god that's over, he's the _worst_."She leans back in her seat as if she’d just run a mile.“How’d you find it?”

Eren slams his head onto his desk."I'm going to be one of those first year drop outs."

Turning to face the brunet, Armin’s warm voice cuts through the air, straight to his ears.“You're in first year?"  

“Yeah,” he replies, keeping his head on the table but turning to crack one weary eye at the blond.

“This is a _third_ year course.”He looks honestly worried, fretful and concerned.“You're supposed to take Intro to Biology and Intro to Physics before you take this one."

Eren sits up with a frown.“What?"

"What are you studying?”Sasha asks,“Did you go to your academic advisor when you picked courses?"

"Um, I... no."

“He's just like Connie was!” She laughs, patting Eren hard enough on the back to make him choke a little. 

Armin gives him an apologetic look and asks, “Do you have your schedule with you?”Eren says yes and pulls it out of his backpack, handing it to the blond who checks it over.“The other ones are all first year courses, so you should be fine, and you can just drop this one.”

“Hmmmm….” Sasha kicks at the chair in front of her suddenly, a idea springing into her mind.“I know!Armin!”

“Hm?”

“You can tutor him!”

Eren stiffens.“No, you don't need to do that…”

The noise she makes is both ridiculous and dismissive as she pats Eren on the back and says, "He's like _mega_ smart.It's no problem for him.Just between you and me, I think the government is going to snatch him away and use his brain to power the whole country after he graduates."

Armin's face goes a little pink, “I’m not…”

“Yeah, it's okay,” Eren says, “I wouldn't expect you to.”

“No, no.”He shakes his head.“I mean, I'm not particularly smart or anything.”Eren catches Sasha rolling her eyes at this.“But I wouldn't mind tutoring you.It's the least I could do, after this morning.”

Eren _should_ protest.It's the polite and socially correct thing to do.But that same playful feeling from before bubbles inside him and when he meets Armin's uncertain gaze, he can't imagine ever saying no.  

“Okay then.”

“Here, give me yours, we can find times when we're both free,”Armin says, pulling his own schedule out of a plastic folder.Eren sets his next to it on Sasha's desk, and glances over the blond's timetable.  

   His eyes widen as he looks.  He's taking six classes, all of which seem mildly terrifying to Eren: Biomechanics, Organic Chemistry, Calculus, Kinematics, Botany, and Intro to Engineering.  On top of that, there are notes written in for labs two evenings a week, shifts at work, meetings, and any free spots are blocked off in green highlighter and read 'homework' or 'study.'   He's busy until nine PM every week night, save Thursday, and his Saturday and Sunday are both blocked off entirely in green, save for something called 'Vol' on Sunday afternoon.

“Do you give yourself any time to breathe?”Eren says, bewildered that anyone could be this busy.

“What do you mean?”He asks, looking innocently back at him.

Eren glances at his own schedule, which is sparse by comparison. 

“Don't let his pleasant personality fool you,” Sasha says, “Armin is a masochist.”

“I am not.”He replies, feathers clearly ruffled.  

“Or a robot.”She leans towards Eren, covering her mouth as if telling a secret but speaking loudly.“ _He never sleeps, Eren_.”  

Armin sighs.“Stop it, Sasha.”

They work out that they're both free Monday and Wednesday after nine, and Thursday evenings after five.Well, sort of - Armin has those times blocked off in green as study time, but tells Eren that tutoring him will basically be studying anyway, even if it will be simple stuff at first.  

The three of them head out of the lecture hall together.Sasha spins quickly to face Eren and pats him roughly on the shoulder six times while she speaks.“It was fucking A-grade _great_ to meet you.We have crazy dinner parties on residence a lot, you should come!There's food. _Free_ food.”She starts drooling a little; Eren takes a step back.“Anyway, I've got soccer.I'll see you two around!”She claps him hard on his spine, causing Eren to wince in pain, and leaves before he can ask her about the soccer team.

Armin deflates a little when she's finally out of sight, closing his eyes and rubbing his left temple.

“She's… eccentric,” Eren says.

Armin opens his eyes to look at him, a little wry.“Something like that.”He shifts his bag over his shoulder; Eren watches the ends of his hair glide along his jawline as he fidgets with the strap.“I know I said it a hundred times already, but I really am sorry for spilling your coffee all over you.”

He looks just as upset about it as he did when it had actually happened, lips pulled down and shoulders slumped.  

Eren shakes his head.“I told you, forget it.Besides, you might want to do it again after Thursday.I've never been very good at school.”

Blue eyes light up suddenly, drawing Eren in.“I’ll make _sure_ you pass, okay?It'll be fun.”

He laughs shortly.“It — ”

“Eren.”

He turns around to see Mikasa standing in the hallway, her mouth hidden under her red scarf, eyes levelled and calm as ever.She looks between him and Armin, apparently not having noticed him right away.“Sorry.”

“Hey Mikasa.”

“Who's this?” She asks, pulling her scarf down.“Did you manage to make a friend?”

The blond stiffens, looking at her sheepishly with his lips parted, but no words come out.  

“This is Armin,” Eren says, unable to keep the snide grin off his face, "He dumped a cup of coffee over my head this morning."  

The blond turns to him to protest, because it definitely didn't happen like _that_ \- but Mikasa is quicker.

"Thank you for looking after him," she says, her lips tugged up into just the slightest smile.  

"Um… You're welcome?"Two blue eyes blink at her, uncertain."It was an accident."

"Oh."She pulls at her scarf."Too bad.Feel free to do it intentionally from now on."

Armin seems to catch on and smiles at her, nodding seriously."Yes m'am.I'll keep him in check."

Eren frowns at both of them." _Hey_."

"What?" Mikasa looks at him, completely stoic.  

   "I'm not some _dog_."

Armin laughs, probably at Eren's sour expression.  

   Mikasa tells Armin she's taking law, and he tells them both that he's having a hard time choosing exactly what he wants to do, but he's taking mostly science courses, though he wishes he could take some history but it doesn't really fit in with his possible majors at this point (he's in his third year, and is definitely around the same age as them both).  Eren has nothing of value to contribute to the conversation and it fades into white noise.

"Eren's going to join a sports team," she says, apparently answering some question Armin had asked while Eren hadn't been listening.

The blond looks at him with a smile.It's getting hard to imagine him without one, and he'd only just met the guy."Really?Do you know which one?"

"Uh," he manages while his head tries to catch up, "Soccer, probably."

"Oh the soccer team here is _wicked_."Armin looks deadly serious, and somehow it fits just as easily as his smile does.“Sasha’s on it, and the coach is my boss at work.She doesn't go here, she volunteered."  He looks back and forth at him and Mikasa like he's telling them something highly classified and very important."Be careful, she's practically a slave driver.If you make the team you can forget about your freedom."

Eren laughs once, a little darkly."Sounds like the type of coach I'm used to."

"Yeah?"Armin is smiling again.The change is instantaneous, quick, and decidedly easy to accept."I hope you make it, then."

Armin tells them that he's got to run, since his next class starts in about three minutes.He tells them it was really nice to meet them, and that he's sorry about this morning again ( _it's okay_ , Eren says with a fond smile), hopes to see Mikasa soon, and if either of them need anything, to let him know. _I'll see you Thursday night, Eren_ (Mikasa gives him a raised-eyebrow at this).Then he's gone.

"He seems nice."

"Yeah," he says, looking away from the retreating figure and at Mikasa.Then he explains everything that had happened, from meeting Jean at the coffee shop to before she'd come to see him after class. 

Her eyes search his face."He's going to tutor you?" 

"Mm, in Biomechanics.Mikasa," he doesn't look at her while he talks, instead staring off into space and remembering how insanely packed Armin's schedule had been."I think he might be a genius."He pauses to reconsider."Or completely insane."

Her expression never falters, staying as clear and calm as a quiet lake."Only a genius could manage to help you pass a class like Biomechanics, and only an insane one would want to try." 

"Lay off, would you?"He shoves her playfully."This was your idea."

"I never told you to take a third year science course.But you never do anything half-heartedly."When she looks at him this time, her gaze is soft."I'm glad you made a friend."

Blue eyes flash through his mind, and Eren smiles.  

"Yeah." 

"Anyway," Mikasa starts walking down the hall.Eren's not sure where she's headed, but he doesn't have class again until tomorrow, so he follows her."If you want to try out for the soccer team, the sign up sheet is in the student council office."  

For the first time in years, Eren goes to sleep that night excited to wake up in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Info about updates will be in my profile. Please comment if you liked it! I live off of feedback.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited by [Leala](http://momotaarou.tumblr.com/). Thank you~

Mornings with Mikasa have been a part of Eren’s life for as long as he can remember. Even before her mother died and she moved in with Eren, they’d stay at each other’s place so often that waking up in the same house was commonplace by the time they were in grade school. By the time they were teenagers they had a routine down. Eren would get up first, start coffee for his best friend and shower; Mikasa would roll out of bed as soon as she smelt the coffee, start cooking whatever she decided they were having; then when Eren was finished showering, he would finish cooking while she took one as well. It had been like team work. She was, without fail, always where he expected and needed her to be, all those years.

After he got kicked off the soccer team in high school, though, Eren started sleeping in late, and the routine fell apart.

But today is his second day of university and Eren is awake at six-thirty am, hand just pressing the ‘brew’ button on Mikasa’s coffee machine and a sleepy smile on his face. Two days in a row he’s managed to pull himself together. She walks into the kitchen a few beats after, yawning in her black robe, hair pulled into a messy bun, just as Eren is leaving to go shower.

“Morning,” he says.

Her dark eye flash as she catches the happy tilt in his voice. “Good morning.”

Once they’re both showered, they eat together. Eren yaps on about the Titan’s latest album, the study session with Armin tonight, and his excitement about signing up for the soccer team. Mikasa gives him an even look as he mentions the last point. The meaning is clear.

Eren nods and sets his eyes as solid as he can. It’s nothing compared to her placid gaze, but Mikasa is on an inhuman level of stoicism.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he replies to the question on her face. “No worries.”

She goes back to drinking her coffee, wordless.

Eren’s second day of school – a Thursday – finds him attending three of the four classes he’s taking this semester. They’re still daunting, but definitely doable, especially Sports Psyche since he can relate it to personal experience. Pre-Calculus is almost as hard as Biomechanics, except luckily it only focused on math, while Biomechanics took physics, biology, and mechanics and put it together. Human Sexuality turns out to be pretty boring, considering its title, but he can keep up with the lectures and Eren is immensely relieved. Armin was right, the rest of his classes seem to be more at his level.

His last class ends at eight-thirty pm, leaving Eren with thirty minutes to make it to the library and meet with Armin for their first study session. He’d brought what notes he’d managed to take, his text book, and his best attitude, because honestly Eren is really impatient with school stuff and he likes Armin so far and doesn’t want to screw it up. He hasn’t made new friends in years. Probably since the beginning of high school. It seems so pathetic, when he thinks of it like that…

Rose University Library has four floors, wood furnishings, and dark bookshelves wider and taller than anything Eren’s ever seen. There must be books in fifty other languages, because there’s no way all of these are from only one part of the world.

“Eren!” Comes a happy call, followed by the shush of the librarian. Armin bows sheepishly at her then looks at Eren again. The brunet makes his way over, sitting across from the blond along a rectangular cherry wood table. It’s probably worth more money than everything he owns combined, and this fact is earth shattering for a moment until Armin speaks.

He has a hot cup of tea beside him. It smells like mint. “Hey,” is all he says.

“Hey,” Eren replies. It feels a little awkward, like first time meetings usually are, but it’s not unpleasant. It’s more exciting than anything. Armin smiles at him.

“How was your day?”

“Uh, fine. You’re right, the rest of my classes are way easier.”

Armin’s smile widens. “I’m glad. Want to get started?”

Eren had been wondering how Armin’s day was, but the blond is the one taking time out of his appallingly busy schedule, so if he wants to get down to work then Eren will go along with it.

Armin is, Eren learns, a very serious tutor. He goes through his notes and orders them by subject, first, then chronologically (which had been easy sine he’d only been at the university for two days), telling Eren his notes will be easier to study from if he keeps them separated by class and organized by date. Armin explains everything slowly, deliberately, watching Eren's face for when he's totally lost, which is practically the entire session. They start with the very basics of physics, stuff he sort of remembers from high school. Eren apologizes when Armin has to explain the same thing more than three times, but the blond just says not to worry about it, and explains the information in a different way.

At the same time that Armin's serious and determined about helping him study, he's also a lot of fun. This becomes apparent after they’ve studied for over an hour and Eren has lost his ability to focus and is now being the worst distraction from school work possible.

But the blond doesn’t seem to mind.

Eren’s knees bounce on the underside of the table. “We should get to know each other,” he says, restless from sitting for so long.

Armin’s laugh is bright and calm. “Well, tell me something about yourself.” He thinks for a moment. “What’s your favourite band?”

“The Titans,” Eren says without hesitation.

“What kind of music do they play?”

“Uh.” Eren taps his pencil on the table. “Alt, I guess. Maybe rock.” He tries to keep himself contained, knowing his obsession with the band can be overwhelming for other people. “You should check them out sometime.”

“Yeah, for sure,” Armin smiles at him. “Have you signed up for the soccer team yet?” Eren says no, he’d been busy today with classes. Armin nods and continues, “I don’t know much about soccer…”

“Liar. I’m pretty sure you know everything about everything.”

“I don’t!” His cheeks go pink. Apparently, complimenting the blond about his brain makes him _shy_. “I’ve never studied a sport.”

“Ever played one?” Eren’s smirking now.

Armin smirks back at him, though his is much kinder. “Well, I like to swim.”

“Is there a pool around here? We should race.”

“You sure are competitive, Eren…”

“Sure am.”

Armin laughs. “Okay, you’re on.”

“Sweet.” Eren looks at a stack of books piled next to Armin’s chair on the floor, seven altogether, thick and old-looking. He recalls the three huge ones he’d been carrying when he’d crashed into Eren in the hall.

“You read a lot, don’t you.”

“Huh?” Armin blinks at him. “How’d you know?”

“Just a guess….” He says, looking away from the pile on the floor. “What do you read about?”

“Ah - anything, really.”

“But you’ve gotta have a favourite. Let me guess…….” He makes a point of looking upwards as if in deep thought, then drops his head and grins wide at the blond. “Historical anthologies.”

Armin huffs. “Are you calling me boring?”

“You _do_ read them,” he says in happy confirmation.

The blond pouts, defensive. “They’re really interesting!”

“I’m sure.”

“Have you ever read one?”

“No way.”

“Then you wouldn’t know, would you.” He says, smiling triumphantly.

There’s nothing even slightly condescending or rude in the way he’d said it - clearly teasing and, if anything, he’d seemed bashful even doing that - but Eren cocks at eyebrow at him and says, “You can be kinda snarky, huh? This whole cute-blond thing is a cover up.”

“I- I’m not… I wasn’t–”

A grin spreads across Eren’s face, putting itself there with strong intent, stretching his jaw line.

Armin stops stuttering and frowns at him. “You did that on purpose.”

Eren’s grin only widens. “What have you read that I would like?”

“Um.” Armin shifts in his seat. “Well, what do you like?”

“Anything with a lot of action, I guess. And a really cool hero.”

“Figures,” he replies with a smile. Eren wonders what he means but doesn’t ask. “I’ll take a look around the next time I’m home. I live in residence, but my house is only about an hour from here.”

The brunet quirks an eyebrow. “How are you going to ‘take a look around’ your house for a book? Do you own a library or something?”

“Something like that.” He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it, so Eren lets it go. “So, what high school did you go to?”

“Trost,” Eren says.

“Oh! You were on the Trost High soccer team, then, right?” Eren nods, shoving some bad memories away as fast as he can. He’s actually having a good time and doesn’t need them to ruin it. “I went to see a game once, in second year I think. I guess I must have seen you, but I don’t remember.”

“Who was the opposing team?” Eren asks, wanting to know which game it was.

“Sina Academy,” he says, adding as an afterthought, “I went there.”

“Oh I remember that one. We tied, right?” Eren sets his chin in his hand, leaning over the table, “You went to private school?”

“Yeah. I was homeschooled until I turned fifteen, then I went to Sina.” Armin looks like he’s expecting something, but Eren has no idea what it could be.

“What was it like?” he asks.

Armin’s expectant expression leaves and is replaced with one of remembrance, sifting through his mind for information, looking up as he thinks. “The uniforms were a little embarrassing, and the teachers were really strict, and there’s a lot of politics involving who your parents are… I guess it was fine, but I’m glad it’s over.” Eren bites down on asking what the uniform looked like. Somehow it seems inappropriate to inquire about. “I always think I missed out on something, not going to public school.”

“What do you mean? Like what?”

“The academy was very… controlled,” he says at length. The light in his eyes falters. “It was almost militaristic.” Eren tries to picture Armin in that sort of setting, and the image is completely incongruous, wrong. “Social interaction for fun was discouraged. It was all about studying, you know? Even the sports teams were like that. Only about being great at what you’re doing.” He does remember the Sina team being pretty intense. “As a student, you just did what you were told, and didn’t argue.” Armin's lips are pulled down, but he doesn’t look sad. Only tired at the memory. “So… I’m not very good at - I don’t have much of a backbone, and I think it’s from never having to stand up for myself.”

Eren leans in, as if to keep everything between them and away from the wide empty room. They’re both partially slouched over the table, though Armin is sitting up straighter. “I don’t believe that. You definitely have a backbone.”

“You know what I mean,” he says, mistaking Eren’s comment for a joke about physiology.

“No – I’m serious. I can’t picture you letting anyone walk all over you.”

“It’s not that, exactly. It’s hard to explain…” Eren waits. Armin looks away from him, staring off towards the expanse of empty tables. “I don’t feel right voicing my opinion on things. It’s as if my words and ideas don’t carry any weight. Like everyone else is allowed to express themselves, but I’m…” He trails off, shaking his head and setting his gaze in his lap. “What am I even saying?” He laughs, the sound small and depreciative. “We just met and I’m going on like this.” He looks sideways at Eren, hair falling over his cheek as he turns his head. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s…” Armin’s hands are wrung together in his lap, nervous. “It’s totally fine,” he says, looking back up at blue eyes. “I’m no good at small talk anyway.” He leans back in his chair, moving his gaze out across the room, can feel Armin staring at the side of his face. “Public school does produce a lot of entitled assholes, so there could be something about it that… like… makes you better at expressing your opinions.” Embarrassment sinks into his chest; he wishes he was better at speaking. Eloquent like Armin. “So maybe you’re right. But… you seem really nice.” ‘Nice’ isn’t the right word. ‘Nice’ isn’t what he means. Armin is definitely nice, but it’s more than that. He wrings his brain dry, trying to get his thoughts to form into words, something he’s never been good at. “Like you put everyone before yourself. Which might be bad sometimes, sure, but it’s not something that most kids I knew in school… um… had,” he finishes lamely. “So.”

He looks over at the blond. Trepidation forces Eren’s shoulders to shrug acutely.

Armin’s expression is stunned, lips parted with words hidden behind them. “I…”

Had he said something wrong? The brunet feel his throat tighten. “Sorry. Like you said, we just met so we don’t really know each other, and if it’s something that bothers you, then….. But I just - I think you’re fine the way you are.” Armin’s cheeks are going a little pink, but his whole body loosens, hands opening in his lap. “Except for liking boring books,” Eren adds, smirking wickedly.

The blond’s bewildered expression falls and his lips twist into an exasperated smile. “You never stop, do you.”

“Nope.”

They look at each other for a moment – Eren grinning and Armin’s expression wry – until one of them breaks into a laugh and the other follows, both of them hunched over in their seats in a fit of giggles. It makes Eren feel warm, to laugh like that again, like he used to.

Armin manages to reel him in and get Eren’s brain to focus on their notes for thirty more minutes, a feat he never would have believed possible. Somehow, Armin makes it all seem so simple, just going one step at a time until it clinks in the brunet’s head. And it doesn’t hurt that his voice is nice to listen to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment if you liked it :3 ~~I really like comments do it~~


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to [Leala](http://elriqs.tumblr.com/) like always.

Eren goes to sign up for the soccer team the following Monday afternoon.As he’s walking down the hallway that passes through the one of busier sections of campus, where study tables are set up as well as vending machines and free-to-use computers, he runs into Sasha.

Or, more literally, she runs into him.

“Eren!!!”Booms a loud shout from somewhere his ears can’t place.Then a brunette is bounding at him, launching herself from his peripheral vision and crashing into him with enough force to knock him into the wall, right onto a student council election ad.Sasha grins at him sweetly as she crushes him by his shoulder into the poster.“Hiiiiii!”

“H-Hey, Sasha.”He wiggles a bit.“What’s up?”

“Are you going to see Armin?”

“Uh.Yeah?”He hadn’t even seen her come out at him.She’d make a good solider, practicing gorilla warfare in the halls like that.“Is this how you normally greet people?”He asks, breath escaping him as she pushes against his side.

“Gotta get you tough for the soccer try outs, that’s all.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway.”She lifts off him and Eren takes a grateful gasp of air, rubbing his shoulder.“He forgot his dorm key in class.Give it to him.”Sasha sets it in his hand like she’s trying to stab him, forceful and certain.“Okay?I’ll see you later!”

She darts off along the hallway, ponytail bouncing cheerily.  

Eren looks down at the key pressed into his palm.There’s a strap hanging off it with a little toy seahorse, bright green with black eyes.Cute is the only word for it, but somehow it doesn’t fit his first impression of the blond.Not that Armin isn’t - objectively - cute, just… Why a seahorse?Does he like them especially or something?

Eren stuffs the key in his pocket and continues on his way.  

The student council office isn't exactly what he'd been expecting.He'd thought it would be just like any other office, white bare walls with a desk and a computer; in a word, boring.Instead, this room is covered wall to wall in posters, some school related, some of events around the city, and others of movies and tv shows and music (there's even a poster of The Titans and Eren smiles fondly at it).There's hardly any blank space.It looks too Eren more like someone's bedroom, minus a bed.Though, there _is_ a an old looking probably-fake leather couch set against one of the walls.It's covered in clothes and two backpacks.

In the very centre of the room there's a desk shaped like a semicircle, with one huge monitor facing away from the entrance.There's someone sitting at the desk, though Eren can't figure out  if they're a secretary or what because the monitor is just _huge_.

"Uh…"He steps into the room.The wooden floor cracks under his shoes."Hello?"

The typing that had been filling the room stops suddenly.Then a hand reaches around to the side of one of the monitor and, gripping it needlessly tight, shoves it left out of the way to see him.

Eren gapes when their eyes meet.

"Jean?!"  

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

Eren deadpans at him."I started university.I told you before." 

"I didn't think they let pieces of shit study here, but I'm all for inclusion."

Eren fakes a laugh and flips him off."Don't tell me _you're_ the president of the student council," he says, walking further into the room.

Jean shuts his eyes, jaw pulled stiff with his head turned to the side."Fuck no, that's-"

There's a door behind the desk that Eren hadn't noticed, and he's only noticing now because someone is walking through it.Short black hair, a face enthusiastically infested with freckles , and a peaceful expression that makes Eren relax a little.Definitely the student council type, anyway.

"… Marco," Jean finishes.

"Hello," Marco says with a small wave.  

Eren's face breaks into a wicked grin, which he directs shamelessly at Jean."You're a fucking _secretary_ , aren't you."

"Shut up!"

"You are!"

"Fucking shut UP Jaeger or I'll-"

"You'll what?"Eren smirks." _Bring me a latte?"_

"Yeah," the student council president says with an easy smile, his voice warm and sonorous, before the two of them can really get going, "Jean has to track all the clubs, events, and activities that go on here.That means he has to look at the university's master schedule and balance class times with free blocks, so that as many students as possible can join any club they like while still making it to class.Which is actually impossible, given the size of RU, but he does it anyway."  

Eren watches Jean's face turn sour and decides he likes this Marco guy a lot.  

"Not to mention he handles all the money that administration gives us, and distributes it evenly depending on which clubs have more members or more expensive equipment.Then there's ordering that equipment, being here as early as five AM to sign for those orders, ensuring that team captains' certifications are up to date, which is important for clubs like archery."Marco is still smiling and speaking very nicely, and Eren has the feeling it's not supposed to be sarcastic or spiteful at all.That he's just admiring how hard Jean works.  _"And_ he deals with anyone who comes in here to complain, which is actually my job…"He scratches the back of his head.  

"Oh."Eren feels sheepish.  

"And he definitely _never_ brings me a latte." Marco laughs lightly.

Jean rolls his eyes and puts his chin in his hand, leaning on the desk."So what the hell do you want?"

He doesn't smile at Jean, but he does try to calm down."How do I sign up for the soccer team?"

"You sure?"Jean says after a few beats, riffling through stacks of paper.  

Eren knows what he's thinking, but more than anything, he knows it will be alright.It's been years since he'd been kicked off the high school team, since he's had an incident.He's fine.  

"Yes."

He's handed a sign-up sheet after Jean can't find it and the student council president smiles and hands it to him.There are about ten names on it already - Eren recognizes Sasha's, Annie's, and Connie from when Sasha had mentioned it, though he doesn't know him.Rapidly his heart kicks in the cage of his chest when he presses a pen to the paper. _It's going to be fine_ , he tells himself, _you've done everything you're supposed to_.He signs it quickly with his student number, and shoves it back at Jean.

"I'll recommend you to Ymir," Jean says.

Eren nods."Thanks."Then he shifts, remembering suddenly and folds his arms, holding himself up tall."His name is Armin."

Jean looks pissed off at him."What?"

"Your blond from the coffee shop."  

It takes him a moment, but eventually the asshole jumps, eyes nearly bloodshot with hatred."You met him?!"

   A faint ‘who’ can be heard in the background from the student council president, but he’s very much ignored.

"I sure did."He lets his smirk grow wider, and fights to keep himself from doing a victory dance at having the upper hand."He tutors me.Three times a week.Just the two of us."

Jean nostril's flare." _You piece of trash."_

"Aw, are you upset?"

"You have to introduce me!"

"Like hell I do." 

"Jaeger!" 

Eren's starting to think maybe he shouldn't have said anything."I don't know him well enough for something like that."   

   Standing beside Jean behind the desk, Marco watches the two men argue, looking like he wants to ask but, Eren would guess, probably too polite to interrupt.  

"I don't care.We could set it up - you fucking _have_ to let me meet him!Do you have any idea how much money I spend at that place?!"    

Eren rolls his eyes, fucking entitled bastard."Alright, alright," he says, "He's tutoring me in the library tonight at six.Just pretend you happened to run into me there." 

"Fuck," Jean says, looking excited in a way that makes Eren feel a bit sick."Okay.Don't tell him lies about me, you asshat." 

"Talking about you would give me mouth cancer, dickhead." 

The student council president starts laughing.Jean and Eren look at him, surprised and angry. 

Marco shakes his head."You two argue like ten year olds."

Mikasa says the same thing. 

Eren thanks Marco and flips Jean off for good karma, then he's peddling his way to Krista's Flower Shop for his shift at work. 

He gets shit from Jean for working at a flower shop, but Eren actually really likes it.It's quiet, simple, and relaxing, which is what he'd needed the day she'd hired him, two years ago.Something under-stimulating and calm.Now he likes it because it's familiar and comfortable.He knows the names of way too many flowers and what they mean; and he's pretty good at arranging them, though Krista always shifts a few around before she puts any arrangements up for sale.They also sell potted plants, which are Eren's favourite, since they don't die right away like the bouquets do. 

"Hello, Eren," Krista says as he walks through the glass door.Her shop is small, vines crawling up the walls and ceiling, hugging the wood wherever they can.The bouquets are kept in a refrigerator that's kept at room temperature, since the city gets too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, but all of the other plants are out in the open, hanging down from the ceiling or growing up from the ground.It always smells nice."How was school today?" 

"Alright," he says, "I signed up for the soccer team."   

She seems to go solid, which is odd.Krista doesn't know about what happened in high school.Besides, his boss had always had this flowery, flowey feeling about her.Like she could be whisked away in a soft summer wind she's so light and airy."That's good," is all she says about it."I've got to run.There's a list on the counter.If you need anything, call my cell like usual." 

Eren thanks her and she's gone, leaving him alone in a silent room full of life.   

The list his boss had left him is short - dust the shelves, water the hanging plants, and count the till - and he finishes is it in about two hours.That makes it four-thirty, thirty minutes before he can close up.With only the bottom of the food chain as company, Eren starts to get bored pretty quick.As much as he does like how relaxing this part-time job is, as much as he'd needed it to be that way before, it doesn't change the fact that he's generally a high-paced hyperactive sport-freak who loves being overstimulated and having _things to do_ , being in a rush and pointed in a direction and told to just _go_ , no thinking involved and no questions asked.Having all of this silence and stillness to think in is giving him a headache.He slams his forehead into the cashier counter and groans. 

This is exactly when someone opens the glass door to the shop and, understandably, freezes in the entry way.

"Um… Are you okay?"A familiar clear voice says, sounding genuinely worried, but more amused than anything.  

Eren doesn't lift his head up.He just shifts his neck a bit to look at Armin.

His blond head tilts to regard Eren's own face on a straight axis.He smiles, clearly holding back a laugh.That nice expression is a dirty _lie_ \- Armin is enjoying his pain!

"Eren?"

"What're _you_ doing here?"He says, mouth half-pressed into the table and eyes closing, voice whiney.  

Armin walks all the way into the room."I needed to buy some flowers, and I ran into Mikasa.She told me you worked here.I thought I'd buy them and we could go to the library together." 

Interest filling him, Eren lifts his head finally, though slowly."Sounds good," he says, rubbing his eyes, "What were you looking for?" _If Armin has someone to buy flowers for, Jean's going to be disappointed_.Eren feels happier at just the thought.  

Armin visibly stiffens, and he wonders if he'd said something weird.   

"What is it?"Eren says, leaning over the counter to smirk at the blond."You have a hot date?" 

Armin withers, which isn't his typical reaction to Eren's witless banter."No… nothing like that." There are a few vases on display under the clear counter.Eren picks one up to dust it, trying to ease the sudden tension, waits for Armin to speak.   

"Tomorrow is…"A soft intake of air, sharper than a sigh, "It's the anniversary of my parents' death." 

The vase slips from Eren's fingers like it might as well be water and shatters on the wooden floor. 

   "Shit."

"Oh!"Armin is rushing behind the counter and falling on his knees, hands reaching out to pick up shards of glass.Eren kneels down across from him, doing the same.It's silent for a few seconds too long."Sorry.I - I didn't mean to freak you out or anything…I just never know how to say it."Armin is avoiding his eyes when Eren stops to look at him, head down and collecting glass in one hand, picking it up with the other."They died when I was just a kid, so.I mean, you never really get over it, of course, but…" 

Eren shifts on the floor, knees digging into the cracks of the wood.It's dusty, dry."No, I…."He never really knows how to say it either.Blue eyes look at him finally, and Eren won't look away."Mine too." 

"Your…" 

"When I was sixteen." 

There's a wordless understanding between them, something heavy and tired. Like the world had swallowed them up together in a thick, dead-weighted void of something only the two of them understand.He gets pulled into an endless vortex of blue, staring anxiously and locked, stuck within this thing between them.Armin looks back as him just as intently. 

"Uh," Eren says, stammering to shove words from his dry lips, "I- You-"He looks at his nose and remembers the first time he'd seen him, flour covering it; it was only three weeks ago, but it's starting to feel like he's known this guy a lot longer than that.Eren swallows, still looking straight at Armin. "Thanks," he manages eventually, breaking whatever it was, and stands up."I've never seen you in here before."Eren dumps the shards into a waste bin, and Armin does the same. 

"I usually go to a shop closer to my house."Eren wonders if he lives on his own like Mikasa and himself.But since he'd been a kid, he probably went to live with a relative."Do you have white callas?" 

He sounds meek, words quiet.  

Eren knows about having to tell people that your parents are dead, the pitying looks and the _oh dear you poor thing_ and the way people walk on egg shells around you after they know.He _doesn't_ know why Armin sounds so terrified, as if he'd done something wrong by telling him.    

"Eren?" 

"Um."He lifts his hands from the counter twice, quick and twitching.Then he rounds the table in a hurry and walks over to the refrigerator, opening it.He hears Armin come up behind him."I always get my mom's favourite flowers for their grave."He lifts out a small bouquet of pink peonies from the cold display fridge.   

He hadn't meant anything by it.He hadn't been trying to tell Armin what to buy, what to do.   

"They're pretty."The blond hums, taking them from Eren. "I always get a calla because…" 

"Get whatever you want!" Eren says suddenly.Avoids blue eyes.“They're _your_ dead parents."His throat catches the second the words fall from his lips.He hadn’t meant to say it like that, had only wanted Armin to understand that the decision was his to make, that he should pick whichever flowers he wants to.    

That’s all he’d meant.But there’s no way Armin will get that out of his words.  

The blond stiffens and Eren does the same, hands gripping the stems of the peonies tightly.They look at each other in sharp silence, and Eren knows his face is getting red, embarrassment swelling inside him like a pulsating wound. 

_Why am I so fucking terrible at this._

"I," Eren starts, pulling out one large white calla, "I mean…"His palms are sweating."I…" he says again, setting his forehead against the glass."Fuck, Armin, sorry." 

"It's okay."   

If Eren looked, he'd see a small smile on his pink lips.But instead, he shoves his forehead against the glass and squeezes his eyes shut."Just buy whatever you want." 

"Hm."Armin takes the calla from Eren as well, slipping it gently out of his grasp."I'll get both, I guess."His smile has grown into an amused grin; Eren still hasn't caught it, and wishes the ground would open up and eat him alive.His first friend in, what, two years?And he's already screwing it up.It'd been going pretty well, too.Armin is fun to be around, easy to joke with.But Eren has chronic foot-in-mouth disease that results from nearly never thinking before he speaks.Meaning, of course, that this friendship is going quickly down the drain. 

"Eren?"He's surprised to hear Armin's voice.It should be deep deep down that drain."Are you alright?" 

Somewhere he can hear Mikasa telling him to stop being so dramatic. 

"Yeah," he says, and pulls himself away from the cold glass doors.Maybe Armin is immune to foot-in-mouth disease."You can just take them."He goes behind the counter to write it down, that he'd given one calla and a bouquet of peonies away for free, so Krista can take it out of his salary later. 

"What?" 

"It's the least I can do, since I don't even pay you to tutor me." 

"Oh, no, I couldn't…" 

Eren glares like his life depends on it, because Armin doesn't receive kindness nearly as well as he gives it.  "No arguing."

He looks like he wants to, shoulders squared and fists clinging to the flowers."You won't get in trouble, will you?"He asks with a small frown.

"No, it's fine," Eren says.

He smiles then, small and infused with a _thank you_."Alright."  

They leave for the library after Eren checks the temperature of the room and locks up.The sun is low in the sky, but not yet setting.The wind that blows and wraps around them is cool. 

Armin pauses when Eren's hands grip the handle bars."Um, I don't have a bike." 

"What?"The idea seems ludicrous to Eren."How'd you get here?" 

"I walked," the blond says like he's telling Eren something so blandly factual that he shouldn't need to tell him at all. 

"From the school?" 

"Yeah." 

Brown eyes blink, trying to sift through Armin's innocent and blunt expression.He's got to be joking."That's on the other side of town." 

Armin opens his mouth, but doesn't say anything. 

"How long did it take you?" 

"Three hours," he says it again like it's normal, like people just walk across town regularly."It's a good way to clear your head."He smiles neatly. 

Eren levels him with a cocked eyebrow."You weren't born in the city, were you." 

"How'd you know?" 

"Because no one born in the city would walk _three hours_ across town just to 'clear their head.'"  

Armin opens his mouth, and shuts it, and opens it, "I guess I just wanted to do it before school work piled up and I didn't have time.I take it you don't want to walk back?"He smirks at Eren, and while everything about it is still polite and gathered and non-domineering, somehow Eren feels compressed."Pretty lazy for an aspiring soccer player, Eren." 

Eren frowns and nudges his bike with his foot."I bike everywhere.Walking takes too long."

"Impatient," is all Armin says.

"Efficient,"Eren corrects, and much to his heart's pleasure Armin laughs a little.  

"Alright, you win."He walks to the other side of Eren's bike."How are we gonna get back then?There's a bus in about twenty minutes."

"After you called me lazy?No way."

Again, Armin laughs, clear and certain."Well I don't have a bike, so… It's that or we walk."

Heart racing, Eren suddenly loses control over his actions, which isn't all that uncommon, what with perpetual foot-in-mouth disease; though he thinks that this time it has the potential to be hilarious instead of embarrassing.He nods towards his bike, raising an eyebrow and trying to make it as cheeky as possible.  

Armin's eyes widen and a takes a step back."No."

"Yes."

"Eren."He takes another step back, like the bike might explode at any minute." _No_."He looks over at the brunet with excited fear."All the way across town?"

"You're the one who insulted my-"Eren can't think of a word - masculinity? physical abilities? ineptitude? - and fumbles moment before catching up with the conversation again, "Me.You're the one who insulted me, so you have to live with the consequences, Armin." 

"Are these 'consequences' going to get me killed?"   

"Don't you trust me?" 

"It's not you so much as every single motor vehicle on the road that I have a problem with."  

"It's just like walking, but really fast."  

"It's nothing _like_ walking."  

"Do you want to sit on the handle bars, or stand at the back?" 

"Eren!" 

"Do you want to _peddle?_ " 

"I don't even have a helmet." 

"Me neither.The risk is the same for both of us, see?" 

Armin frowns."Do you always ride without a helmet?" 

Eren shrugs."I never fall." 

"That doesn't matter!"Blue eyes are halfway between shocked and furious."You could get knocked over, or hit by a truck, or something could come loose on your bike!Do you _want_ brain damage?"  

"You're worrying too much.” 

Armin bristles and folds his arms, seeming somehow taller and foreboding, almost static electric as his voice comes out even."Eren Jaeger, I am not tutoring you one bit more until you get yourself a helmet and _use_ it."  

"What?" 

"You heard me." 

Eren blinks."Who do you think you are, my mother?"Again: chronic foot-in-mouth disease.Fuck.   

Yet, the blond seems to blow right past it."I'm your _friend_ , and I don't want you to get hurt."   

"This is coercion." 

Armin rolls his eyes."Yes.I'm threatening you with a lack of study dates.You should be very scared." 

"I am, I'll fail if you don't help me."

Armin stiffens, bashful suddenly though Eren misses it."I'm sure you wouldn't." 

"I definitely would.The only reason I even know what's going on is because you explain it to me like a hundred times." 

"I…"  

Eren sighs."How about this: The stores are closed now, so I can't buy one tonight.There's a longer way we can take to get to the university, and it stays mostly off the road.If I go slow and promise to buy one tomorrow, will you _please_ keep tutoring me?"  

Armin eyes the bike warily.He honestly looks worried, and Eren realizes in that moment just how different they are from each other.That wherever Eren will see only fun and adventure, Armin will see the danger behind it.He's by no means boring, nor does he lack ambition, but he's careful in a way that is wholly innate, a way Eren can't even imagine.   

He does notice that Armin doesn't seem concerned with the fact that this isn't strictly legal, though.

"Okay, you win," Armin says, shoulders sagging."I put my life in your hands." 

"That's pretty dramatic."He snorts softly and climbs onto his bike."Handle bars or back?It's probably more comfortable in front, but you'll have to help me see." 

Armin nods, "Alright.How do I do it?"

 

After a lot of shifting and Armin stumbling from one side of the bike over the other, he finally gets balanced in the centre of the handle bars with his feet resting on the metal caps covering the screws on the middle of the front bike wheel.It isn't comfortable, Eren knows, but he doesn't have one of those sort-of-illegal bike seats that are long enough for someone to sit behind you.  

"Ready?"He asks, looking over the blond’s shoulders to the road ahead. 

Armin's fingers grip the handle bars until his knuckles are completely white."Not even a little." 

Eren laughs and slowly starts peddling.Armin's hands grip tighter and he makes a startled noise; Eren can't be sure, but he thinks he hears Armin murmur 'bastard.'  

The route he's taking them is near the ocean, a path through a sparse woods (but considering Armin is from the country it won't be a woods at all to him).For now, though, they're dodging people and cars until they get to the path. 

"Are your eyes open?"Eren asks as he looks around Armin to avoid a couple holding hands. 

"No."He sounds terrified. 

"If you don't open them, we might hit someone."

"Don't say that." 

Eren laughs."Have you never ridden a bike before?" 

"I have, but - but - not through a city.It's different when it's just you and a lot of trees."There's a pause, and Eren has the feeling two blue eyes have opened to the world finally."You need me to watch for anything close, right?You can see everything that's far off."

His voice had gotten serious, tactical.Eren feels himself relax with it."Yeah." 

"Alright."   

They ride through the darkening city, not talking, the constant rush of rising wind the only sound aside from tires on pavement.Once or twice Eren catches himself staring at fluttering blond hair, distracted until Armin warns him of the ally cat and trash bag respectively.Well, it _is_ pretty uncommon for a guy to have hair like that.After about ten minutes of peddling down backstreets and, much to Armin's delight a night-time flower market, Eren brings them finally to the path along the ocean.Through the wide spaces between each person-planted tree dark blue water glints at them with the falling sun's light.  

It dances across Armin's neck. 

"It's beautiful."

"Yeah, I love it here," Eren replies."Me and Mikasa run it every weekend." 

"Really?How long is it?" 

"About ten k.”The wind picks up, warm and wandering away over the ocean with Armin’s gaze.Eren only looks at blond hair at the back of a smooth neck.“You should come." 

"I'm not much of a runner…"  

"Whatever, come anyway, you'll get good at it.The three of us - it would be fun." 

Armin doesn't reply.His head is turned, staring at the water and the light shifting against its small waves.It's the most comfortable silence Eren has ever known.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
